The Russian embassy in Kiev told TASS that they had "sent a note demanding to explain the incident to relevant [Ukrainian] bodies."

Kopnov is not the first TASS employee to be denied entry to Ukraine.

On February 12, the Ukrainian parliament made a decision to suspend accreditation of Russian media at Ukraine's government bodies. Markian Lubkovsky, an advisor at the Ukrainian Security Service, said that more than 100 Russian journalists had been recently deported from Ukraine.